I wish to build a trolling rod, but I would like to make it lighter than the norm. I will be targeting 17-20lb salmon. I'm looking at the 10'6" range. could I use a heavy weight fly blank, or is that just asking for trouble? any input would be appreciated. T

Here in oregon one of my favorite blanks is a 9' 12-25 range. I use it for a variety of gear and it performes great. I have caught salmon in the 40# range with it as well with no problem. I would not recommend using a fly blank mainly because they are not designed for this and the manufacturer usuallly will not warrant the blank. Rainshadow makes the RX7 IST 1086F in 9' or the IST1266F which is the 10'5" blank.

David Banaka



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2005 01:38AM by David Banaka.

Blank manufacturers beef up the graphite under and just forward of where they expect the grips to end to handle the stress. Fly grips stop at about 12 inches, salmon blanks at twice that length. Fly blanks like say a 10 wt are designed to throw 5/8 oz of weight, troll maybe twice that. That's about where the long rods stop unless your using a spey blank which can usually throw a little more and the grip lengths and reinforcements are longer.
If your using downriggers many of your problems disappear, just use a light line steelhead blank, have caught lots of big fish on them if you watch your line chacteristics and they are flexy like a fly blank.
These are not the best combinations if you have a native species that you must release. I don't use them as I have killed a few natives on them.

thanks guys, points noted. T